1997 Honda Civic “Civic interiors are well-designed, neatly executed and more functional than ostentatious. Interior materials seem to have been selected with durability rather than maximum eye appeal in mind.” — New Car Test Drive See More Reviews

4.5

2

1997 Toyota Corolla “With comfortable bucket seats in front and a three-place bench seat in the rear, Corolla is a congenial car for families with young children.” — New Car Test Drive See More Reviews

4.2

3

1997 Volkswagen Jetta “Sharp steering response, a taut chassis and a superb driving position combine to make you forget about the wimpy 2.0-liter, 115-horsepower engine under the hood.” — Edmunds.com See More Reviews

Autos.com editors have compiled the most extensive rating database on the internet, drawing upon $20 million of automotive research from CarsDirect and Autodata, and summarizing expert opinion from an extensive group of the leading third party sources. Here is a brief overview of how we do it:

Professional Reviews Ranking: Autos.com editors analyze car reviews from a range of magazines and websites, distill each down to a quantifiable ranking and then average those rankings to arrive at the Professional Review Rank.

Other Rankings: Autos.com also ranks vehicles based on criteria such as fuel efficiency, cargo capacity, and comfort and convenience features. You can see some of the data that we have used to rate each vehicle in any given category by expanding the category header on the vehicle detail page. For example, click on the arrow next to "Passenger Space" on the Honda Civic detail page to see the actual measurements for that vehicle's interior. These measurements were stacked up against the interior measurements of all the other vehicles in the compact car segment in order to calculate the Honda Civic's rating in the Passenger Space category. That rating is then used to determine the Honda Civic's overall ranking in the compact car category.